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Kiszla: Denver Nuggets did some serious dealing during NBA draft

Jusuf Nurkic of Bosnia-Herzegovina, right, poses for a photo with NBA commissioner Adam Silver after being selected as the 16th overall pick by the Chicago Bulls during the NBA draft on Thursday in New York. The Bulls traded Nurkic to Denver. (Kathy Willens, The Associated Press)

Welcome back to Denver, Arron Afflalo. The Nuggets missed you. They never should have dumped you for that good-for-nothing Andre Iguodala in the first place.

Nobody wheeled and dealed on the day of the NBA draft the way Nuggets general manager Tim Connelly did. He began serious reshaping of the roster to his liking, by obtaining a capable veteran for Denver's backcourt and trading away rookie Doug McDermott before Colorado fans had a chance to fall in love with the college player of the year. If you don't like new Denver rookie center Jusuf Nurkic, his policeman father will come to your house and scare the bad attitude right out of you.

Now, if Connelly can just find a way to persuade the Minnesota Timberwolves to trade him disgruntled forward Kevin Love, the Nuggets would really have something worth talking about.

If not, a starting lineup of Ty Lawson, Afflalo, Danilo Gallinari, Kenneth Faried and Timofey Mozgov can return the Nuggets to the 50-victory plateau next season ... and another first-round elimination from the playoffs, as is this franchise's most-enduring tradition.

Bottom line: The Nuggets were smart Thursday. They made decisive basketball moves that undid some of the stupidity committed by former Denver executive Masai Ujiri before he bolted to Toronto. But if free agent Carmelo Anthony lands in Houston and Golden State finds a way to trade for Love when the NBA carousel stops, the Nuggets are nothing more than an gnat buzzing around the horse race for the Western Conference title.

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Connelly made Denver tougher by taking the burly Nurkic at No. 16 in the opening round and feisty Michigan State guard Gary Harris 19th; the Nuggets might not win a playoff series, but challenge them to a brawl at your own risk.

Connelly gave coach Brian Shaw a reason to believe in his squad's perimeter defense, by bringing back Afflalo to start at shooting guard, and in the process basically said Ujiri was a knucklehead for getting rid of Afflalo in the first place. Follow this circle and try not to get dizzy: In a span of less than two years, the Nuggets swapped Afflalo for Iguodala, then swapped Iggy after his lone season in Denver for a $9.87 million trade exception, and finally used that trade exception to bring Afflalo back to town.

That's a whole lot of sweat to run in place.

I began to suspect how madly in love the Nuggets were with Nurkic three weeks ago, when Connelly pulled a cellphone out of his pocket and began showing off family photos of the teenage center to everybody present at the Pepsi Center practice court.

"Look at his dad. Look how huge his hands are," Connelly excitedly told me in early June, insisting I look at a photograph of Nurkic's father. "This guy is a policeman. Think he can keep the peace?"

The Nuggets drafted the son of a police officer. At 6-foot-11, 280 pounds, Nurkic is as big as the average house in his native country of Bosnia-Herzegovina.

I asked the young center: Who would win an arm-wrestling contest between him and his father?

"My dad," Nurkic responded without a second hesitation, adding that his old man weighs 400 pounds. So maybe this kid has room to grow.

At age 19, Nurkic's scowl and temper intimidated referees, and he threw around grown men like rag dolls on the court. He was the Shaquille O'Neal of the Adriatic League, for what that's worth. It just might be worth enough that the Nuggets could eventually get out from under the weight of a hefty $10.75 million salary wasted by the potential of JaVale McGee.

Will Denver stash Nurkic in Europe?

Not if the center has his way.

"I come and join the NBA," Nurkic said.

Connelly promised the Nuggets would be active this offseason. So far, he is a man of his word.

Connelly has made his team competitive again in the rugged, wild West.

But has Denver become relevant in a league where all the conversation is about which NBA cities are worthy of Le- Bron James, Melo and Love?

New coordinator pushes Buffs to work, play at level he expectsJim Leavitt has discovered this much about his new defense at Colorado: He has some talent with which to work, but his players need to put it in another gear. Full Story

New coordinator pushes Buffs to work, play at level he expectsJim Leavitt has discovered this much about his new defense at Colorado: He has some talent with which to work, but his players need to put it in another gear. Full Story